Is the telephone a quality intervention to improving diabetes nutrition education to veterans

The number of veterans suffering from diabetes mellitus has risen sharply in recent years due to environmental changes and lifestyle. There is a pressing need to improve the quality of diabetes care and veteran's ability to manage the disease. Diabetes mellitus is a lifelong condition, and although incurable, it is nevertheless possible for the military veteran with diabetes to lead a normal life by adhering to a self-care management regimen. However, this complex, lifelong management cannot be achieved in isolation. The Registered Dietitian has been recognized as one of the health care providers, who frequently interact with diabetic veterans, and their role is critical. However, there has been little attempt in formal collaboration knowledge gathering and consideration on the quality and value of dietitian-led diabetes nutrition education follow-up by telephone. Yet, questions about the suitability of traditional outpatient diabetic nutrition education follow-up have led to the development of a range of services. The aim of this study was to investigate the quality of using a telephone for diabetes nutrition education follow-up for veterans in an outpatient clinic by a Registered Dietitian. The design used in this study was a multi-group pretest posttest randomized; controlled trial utilizing the health belief and RE-AIM models at a Mid-Atlantic Coast Veteran Affairs Medical Center. Veterans in the control and experimental group received the usual care provided at the outpatient clinic. In addition, the experimental group received 3 monthly nutrition education surveys. The implications of this study were the incremental effects of a diabetes nutrition education telephone follow-up intervention and its quality on improving blood glucose and self-care diabetes adherence for military veterans.